“Nobody puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch pulls away from the garment and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins.” So Jesus is coming to introduce the new. He’s revealing a dispensation of grace that’s just about to come through His cross. And He’s transforming the mindsets of men. And you can’t take the mindset of the law and you can’t take works to find favor with God and connect it with this grace that we live by. Do you understand? We’re saved by grace through faith.
One of the reasons that Paul was very persecuted is because that he was trying to say that “I’m saved and right with God because He says so,” and that didn’t fly in their culture and society. That’s the reason he said in Romans…he didn’t say it because he’s not not bashful or ashamed in the sense of standing on the street with a bullhorn and letting people know he’s a Christian. He wasn’t that when he says, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel.” A lot of people [say,] “I’m not ashamed of the gospel.” Like, “I’ll speak it up in a crowd.” That’s not what he was saying. He’s talking to a culture, right, a culture of people that were trapped in religion. He’s saying, “I’m not ashamed to say I believe in something that saves me by grace and not my works.” That’s what he’s crying out. “I’m not ashamed that God is saving me through the work of Jesus because He loves me, not based on my works.” Because then he goes on in the later chapters of Romans - two and three and four - and says, “Look, if it’s by my works, then there’s a debt to be paid. If it’s by grace then there’s none. It’s…do you get it?
So Jesus is transitioning here and He’s saying, “Look, when I’m gone they’re going to do this. They’re going to fast but nobody puts a… it’s not the way you think. It’s not the old fast. It’s not the mentality…it’s not to find favor with God. The fact that I’m here reveals that you’ve already found favor with God.” Did you get this? Because that little section of scripture is right on the heels of them fasting. And what He wants to do is change the “why” behind our lives. If you try to put new wine into old wineskins, it’s going to burst and the wine’s going to be spilled. You put new wine in new wineskins. So if there’s a new covenant and new testament of grace of God towards men through Jesus Christ then there has to be a new “why” behind our life that makes us right with God and a new way that we live from. “And in that day they’ll fast.” Why? So that they stay in tune, suppress everything about flesh, works, pride, achievement, accomplishment, earnings, doing to feel better about ourselves (doing to be, doing to be). It’s detrimental to your Christian life. You following this? And Jesus is changing all that.1
Note:
1. Dan Mohler audio recording 2010 Kingdom Living School W12S43B [18:00]
Please Note: Fasting should only be undertaken with the advice and consent of a medical doctor.